Woolford's Surveys: The Roads from Halifax to Windsor and Truro, 1817-18

Landmarks on this map include Godfry's, the Newport Road (before mile 35), Daniel Wire's [Weir's] Inn, a bridge between miles 35 and 36, Spencer's Inn, gypsum cliffs, Mr. Smith's property, and the St. Croix Bridge. Lord Dalhousie was not impressed by Mr. Spencer when he stopped at his inn in 1817: "We stopped a little while at a small miserable public house kept by a man Spencer, whose only recommendation is his wife, a very pretty woman who supports a large family by her industry alone. Her story I do not know, but she is the daughter of a clergyman, near Falkland in Scotland, & ran away from her parents with this man. She spoke of them with tears overflowing." Nathaniel Smith owned a grist mill to the left of the St. Croix Bridge.

In February 1817, Dalhousie's journal records that the countryside from Ardoise Hill towards Windsor included a number of small cottages with a few acres of cleared land surrounding them. He observed a property being cleared which to him demonstrated "the manner in which this Province is increasing, both in numbers of Cultivators and in quantities of arable land."

Date: 1817-18

Draughtsman: John Elliott Woolford

Reference: Nova Scotia Archives Map Collection: 15.1